Scientists have captured photographs of a rarely seen species of dolphin off the North Wales coast.

Little is known about the mysterious Risso’s dolphin and its whereabouts around the UK, but this striking species has spends the months of late summer into autumn using the waters off our shores.

Sea Watch Foundation, the national charity that monitors whales and dolphins say they have had a “particularly large number of encounters” with the animals in recent months as well as hearing about further sightings from members of the public.

They have managed to take pictures of the dorsal fins on their back in order to compare them to a maintained catalogue of individuals.

Read More

As well as distinctive fins, the Risso’s dolphins are notable in colour too.

Starting their lives dark grey, they may acquire many scars over the years so that some of the oldest individuals can appear almost entirely white.

The scars are thought to occur largely from social interactions with one another but also may result from the beaks of the squid species that they target as prey.

A Risso shoots out of the water (Image: Peter Evans/ Sea Watch Foundation)

Despite annual sightings of Risso’s dolphins off the Llyn Peninsula and Anglesey over more than a decade, rather little is known about the whereabouts of these particular individuals throughout the rest of the year.

Katrin Lohrengel, monitoring officer for the charity said: “This year our monitoring efforts have been bolstered by Natural Resources Wales allowing us access to their boat, Pedryn for five dedicated marine mammals surveys in August and September.